Easy Oven Tacos

 

Easy Oven Tacos
shredded meat of your choice, I loved doing this with Ranch Chicken Tacos
cheese 
corn tortillas
cooking spray
toothpicks 

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray cookie sheet, microwave tortillas until soft and pliable.  I did six tortillas for 30 seconds and it was the right amount.  (Less and they’re prone to breaking). Fill with meat, sprinkle with cheese, close with a toothpick and then spray the tops with cooking spray.  Cook for 15-20 minutes.  These are SO delicious and feel special, even though they are so easy.  It was a great way to use up leftover slow cooker meat and makes the food more portable, somehow.  Yum!  Can’t wait to make this again.  

Veggie Spaghetti Squash

My sister Kat was in town a couple of weeks ago for another Ironman event and she had sent me this recipe.  I bought the spaghetti squash with good intentions to use it that weekend, but alas, life happened and the spaghetti squash plans didn't.  I was cleaning out my pantry this morning and found the surviving spaghetti squash hiding in there, and decided to go all out and treat myself to a lunch that actually took a little bit of work.  I am glad that I did because it was delicious, I am still full, and I have had a ton of veggies!  Which is extra good because today is Halloween, and I am sure there will be some candy consumption tonight.  Total aside, but because I don't want to forget, my kids are being ANGELS right now- they cleaned out Christopher's closet (the room is a mess) but they brought every single pillow from the house in there and they are curled up together watching YouTube Minecraft videos.  LOL  Anyway, here's the recipe.

Veggie Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti Squash, cooked and shredded
olive oil
garlic
onion
tomatoes, fresh preferred but sundried/jarred could work?
feta cheese
basil, fresh and chopped

Options- pick any or all, whatever you have and/or like:
spinach, fresh and chopped (if you have it)
broccoli, roasted or steamed
asparagus, roasted/steamed and chopped
olives, if you are so inclined... I am not

Saute the onion and garlic in some olive oil.  Add the tomatoes and give it a minute or two... then toss in the cooked (and warm) spaghetti squash.  Add whatever other veggies you want, then the feta and basil.  Toss to combine and serve!  Yum!

I only used about 1/4 of the cooked squash, and I eye balled the ingredients... but it worked really well and I am still very satisfied. :-) Enjoy!  And thank you, Kat!

Pork Carnitas

Pork Carnitas

3-4 pounds pork shoulder roast
1 4-oz can diced green chilies
1 small can chipotle peppers in adobo if you like the heat- otherwise, just do a second can of diced chilis
1/4 cup chili powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
3/4 tsp. black pepper, or to taste

Put the roast in the crockpot.  Combine spices and dump over the top.  Dump can of chiles and peppers.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 4-5 hours.  Pull out those chipotle peppers (save for anyone brave who wants them!) and shred about 20-30 minutes before serving.

This was excellent with corn tortillas (fresh, heated on a skillet before serving) with cheddar cheese, lettuce, and salsa.  It would also make excellent burritos, chimichagas, or enchilladas on Day 2.  This will feed a TON of people too, easily 6-8 hungry adults.  And you could do it with chuck roast if you wanted as well.

Enjoy!

Easy Enchiladas

This is a great recipe to use up leftover shredded chicken or beef. You can also fill the enchiladas with cheese or canned chicken if you really needed to. You can also split this into two pans and freeze the second one before cooking.

Easy Enchiladas
Red enchilada sauce, one 15 oz can
Corn tortillas, 5-10 depending how much filling you have to use up
Leftover meat for filling*
Cheese, shredded (I usually use cheddar but cheddar jack would be good too)
Scallions, optional
Black Olives, optional

Preheat the oven to 400. Spray an 8x8 pan (for 5) or 13x9 pan (for 10) with cooking spray. Get a bowl that is big enough to put one corn tortilla flat in the bottom, and pour about 2/3 of the can of sauce into the bowl. Dip one tortilla in the sauce and flip to coat both sides. Then fill with a pinch of your meat or cheese filling, roll up and place seam side down in the pan. Repeat until you have used all of your meat filling or you run out of room, whichever comes first. (In the 8x8 pan we used the other night, we had to have four going one way and one smashed up against the top of the row. Whatever works.) Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the top and then coat with cheese. You can add scallions or black olives if you like now. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake or brown for another 5 minutes. Let stand for 5 - 10 minutes before serving. Yum!!!

*An easy way to cook the meat is to put whatever you are going to use (beef roast, pork, chicken) into the slow cooker and top with one 4 oz. can of diced green chiles. Maybe sprinkle some taco seasoning and salt and pepper on top too. I also like to add a can or two of DRAINED pinto or black beans, especially if I am not making a ton of meat. Cook all day on low (or half day on high) and then DRAIN the juice out of the crock pot before shredding the meat with two forks. Then add the shredded meat to the enchiladas as before. Very easy and you can make double if you want to, and then freeze the second half, or pre-make and freeze your second batch of enchiladas! Enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

BBQ Chicken Pizza

pizza dough, either the canned pillsbury kind of Trader Joe's is my favorite
leftover chicken (or rotisserie pieces)
BBQ sauce (honey BBQ, or whatever you have)
shredded cheese- mozzarella, sharp white cheddar, whatever sounds good
optional - peppers, onions

I like to get the fresh pizza dough from Trader Joe's. Spread out the pizza dough the best you can- my pizza's are never round and usually look more like Oklahoma than even a proper rectangle. They taste pretty good, though. Put some BBQ sauce on the pizza (Christopher likes to do this part) and spread it out with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle on your cheese, then top with chicken and veggies.

Cook in preheated oven at 375 for 20-30 minutes or until crust is brown.